LULLABY OF TEARS(tribute to the late John Evans Attah Mills)

LULLABY OF TEARS

A gloomy Tuesday has bedeviled our dear nation

The silky curtain of the castle has torn to shreds

A rainbow of sorrow has painted the skies of our joyful nation

Our elders say ‘sea never dry’

But this sea of our national joy has dehydrated beyond recovery

Our dear hearts have been terribly pierced

Streams of melancholy flow through our disturbed eyes

A lullaby of tears is our only resort

Our eyes have refused to see

Our eardrums have refused to vibrate

Our lips have zipped from within

We are speechless!

Could this be one of the tales of Shakespeare

Or a mere Kwaku Ananse and Okonori story

By Maame Dokono and Dr. Rokoto on ‘By the fire side’ ?

How I wish it was!

The copper bullet has mercilessly ravaged the spirit of our dear nation

The curtains have been drawn on the performance of a legend

The sky-flying kite has been entangled by the pylons on high

Akati has abruptly withered the heart of the fertile cocoa tree

The mighty baobab tree has finally taken a painful bow

A crab cannot be eaten in silence

But this hairy intellectual crab of ours has been masticated in a noisy hush

A thousand times were you killed by the lips

But a thousand and one times did you resurrect

You stood firm like the slogan on Accra Hearts of Oak

You never said die!

You were a cat with nine lives

A beheaded cockroach which continued to survived for days on end

You led your people fearlessly but with utmost humility

Through thick and thin

You stood firm for your beliefs and faith

You were a lion-hearted dove with the wings of an eagle  

Our trembling lips are in dire want for qualified vocabularies

To depict your God-fearing and humble persona

Three times in our hearts have we mentioned your peaceful name

But three times have you failed to respond

Your loud absence has taken the wind out of our rugged sails

 Umbrellas of grief and agony shield our troubled heads

A ‘galamsey’ of bottomless holes have mercilessly raped our spirits

You have responded to Kwame Nkrumah’s invitation and left us wailing

Your precious memory will indelibly glue to our heart of hearts

So shall your great works endlessly cling to our thought of thoughts

  Safe journey to the other side of the river ,Prof

Rest joyously in the rosy bosom of the Maker

Ascend in peace to partake in the glory of the King

PROFESSOR JOHN EVANS FIIFI ATTAH MILLS!

ASOMDWEE HENE!

You shall never walk alone!!

R.I.P.!!!

NOKO FIOO...

NOKO FIOOO...

Grey-haired men of honour

Presumably embedded with vision and wisdom

Perfectly qualified to earn the name ‘grand pa’

They throw all caution to the yawning wind

And take their seats in the political realm

Suddenly, as the case may be

They lose all benefits that accompany the grey hair

Men and women of unblemished reputation in academia

Embellished with laurels from archaeology to zoology

Held in high esteem by young and old

They mount political campaign platforms

And suddenly, they get infected with acute verbal diarrhoea

The words which escape from their academic lips 

Are, to say the least, shameful apologies to education and logic

Young and energetic graduates with beaming potentials

Exit the wombs of our priceless educational institutions

With zeal and a quenchless desire to succeed

They graduate with honours in common sense and common logic

One after another

They are innocently led into the political abattoir

With their political libidos skyrocketing to the heavens

Immediately but unsurprisingly, they lose their thinking caps

Common sense becomes their cherished villains

Common logic finds itself oceans apart from them

They speak because they want to exercise their buccal cavities 

Not because they have messages to deliver

They insult and vandalize with the least provocation

Some tag themselves, ‘grassroot tacticians’

To others, they’re ‘party foot soldiers’

They defend the indefensible

While justifying the unjustifiable

When it’s all said and done

Disappointment and frustration hug them from behind

And guess what?

They march out demonstrating on the naked streets

Like baboons on heat

What will make grey-haired political heads

Mess up like teletubbies in public offices?

What will trigger prominent men in academia

To argue and conduct themselves like toddlers in political offices?

What will incite young graduates to labour to attain common sense and logic

And lose it within a simple blink just for the sake of politics?

Your guess is as good as mine

Noko Fiooo.................!!!

LAND OF 1001 BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE

LAND OF 1001 BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE

This is our land!

Our beloved land of milk and honey

A land graciously embedded with precious minerals and timber

Tetteh Quarshie cocoa and crude oil in abundance

Irrespective of individual academic statuses and social standings

We have a common national treasure that sets us apart as Ghanaians

These make us the happiest group of people on earth

These are our daily ‘beautiful nonsense’

They are rooted firm and deep in us

They make some people wonder at times

They drive others crazy

Others cannot help but admire us

No matter what people think or say about it

They are our unique identity as Ghanaians

We just cannot help it!

Whenever electricity is restored after a blackout

We yell instantaneously in jubilation ‘YIEEEEEEEE....!!! ’

We wash our hands with water alone before meals

But wash with water and soap after meals

We play dirges at funerals when the body is laid in state
Right after burial, our funerals turn into carnivals

We call it ‘Gbonyo party’

When our police officers arrest drivers for motor offences

The drivers are offered two options on the spot

‘Do you want to go court or you want us to settle it here?’

Woe betides anyone who chooses the first option!

We have loads of respect for our animals to the extent that

Our pigs are called Charles

We call our rats Jones

While our cats are generally known as Joseph

Isn’t that breathtaking?

Right here in our wonderful country

Every toothpaste is referred to as ‘pepsodent’

We call all cooking oils ‘frytol’

Every detergent is ‘omo’

All soft drinks are ‘fanta’

Every canned mackerel is ‘tinapa’

All teabags are ‘lipton’

Every chocolate drink is ‘milo’
All water storage tanks are 'polytank'

The usual chorus of our service providers is

‘Every inconvenience caused is deeply regretted’

In movies, we call protagonists ‘blowmers’

While antagonists are ‘killers’

Aren’t we sweet enough?

Most of our local soccer clubs get their names

By combining names of towns with that of soccer teams abroad

We have teams like Kade Liverpool, Ashaiman Barcelona

Kwadaso Esperance and Kpando West Ham

We give local touches to exotic names and make them Ghanaian

We bear names like Kwame Patrick, Kofi Cole, Yaw Lee

Adwoa Rosalinda, Ayitey Canada and Akosua Esmeralda

Don’t you love our Ghana?

These sweet ‘nonsense’ flood our hearts with endless joy

These grant us our biometric identity as Ghanaians

What a country!

There is definitely no place like Ghana!!!

DILUTED GHANAIANS(IN PIDGIN)

DILUTED GHANAIANS

So what kraa be we naa wonna own?

What we go fit call wonna own plus vim?

How we manage turn caretakers for wonna own country inside?

Why sey we be tenants for wonna own land top?

Ebi sey Kwame Nkrumah waste en time for nothing

Or sey we no know what be good give we?

After over 50 years of independence

We still dey live on Kwame Nkrumah en old glory

What be the essence of all the school we go?

Ebi sey we learn nothing

Or ebi sey we no get any sense of national pride?

Why sey we no dey fit do anything on wonna own?

Wey country kraa this?

God ankasa bless we plus cocoa,coffee,minerals and things

But so,so begging edey jum we

Chinese people come take over wonna industrial sector

Them naa dey rule wonna retail sector

Plus them ma internationally-certified  inferior goods

Ailomost everything for Ghana now be ‘Made in China’

Go Agbogbloshie den Makola market go see

Chinese people dey sell everything

From common bamboo yele pona to charlewotey

Lebanese people dey control prices for the food crop market top

Indians den the British dey pull strings on wonna educational sector

Nigerians come dey rule wonna music den movie industries

South Africans den Canadians dey drive wonna mining sphere

Wonna oil den gas sector dier, I no wan talk demma matter

We dey invite foreign contractors for ordinary road construction

Wonna own national budget be funded from abroad

Indians wey dem come pay for wonna own presidential palace construction

We dey go seek foreign aid come build public toilet

Ordinary public toilet ooo!!

We no get ‘shame’ for wonna national vocabulary inside?

What kraa be wonna own for this country inside?

 What we go fit do without external hands?

Aside wonna national debt den the azonto dance

What again we go fit call wonna own?

What kraa be wonna own?